The Marxist Workers League was the name of two splinter groups from the
Revolutionary Workers League in the 1930s.
The first group split in early 1936 and "after a sensational existence of both its members for 19 days" rejoined the Trotskyists.
The second group formed in early 1938, containing elements from the RWL,
Albert Weisbord's Communist League of Struggle
The Communist League of Struggle (CLS) was a small communist organization active in the United States during the 1930s. Founded by Albert Weisbord and his wife, Vera Buch, who were veterans of the Left Socialist movement and the Communist Party ...
, and the Trotskyist
YPSL YPSL may refer to:
* Young People's Socialist League (1907), the youth wing of the Socialist Party of America;
* Young People's Socialist League (Socialist Party USA), the youth wing of Socialist Party USA
The Socialist Party USA, officially ...
. Its central criticism of the RWL was of its analysis of the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
, which it believed was an
imperialist war. Its principal leader was
Karl Mienov. Mienov advocated for a
revolutionary defeatist position in Spain, rather than the critical support of the
Republican government
Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy, is a type of democracy where elected people represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies function as some type of represe ...
advocated by the RWL, declaring "to be wrong on the Spanish war means to open the door wide open to social-patriotism in the coming imperialist world war... We are proud that we split from such a centrist group."
The MWL published a "theoretical organ" out of New York called ''Spark'', and then ''Power'', from February 1938 to 1940. According to Walter Goldberg, ''Spark'' lasted from Vol. I #1 Feb. 1938 to Vol. II #3 May 1939. About that time the group merged with another small sect, the
Revolutionary Marxist League, led by Meldon Joerger, to create a group called the Workers Party.
''International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: a documented analysis of the movement''
By Robert Jackson Alexander p. 833 This new sect appears to have died out quickly, and should not be confused with the Shachtmanite
Shachtmanism is the form of Marxism associated with Max Shachtman (1904–1972). It has two major components: a bureaucratic collectivist analysis of the Soviet Union and a third camp approach to world politics. Shachtmanites believe that the ...
Workers Party that was formed around the same time.
References
External links
Marxist Workers League publications
on Archive.org
* ttps://archive.org/details/on_the_question_of_a_workers_state ''On the question of the workers state''polemic against the MWL by the Leninist League.
{{Authority control
Defunct communist parties in the United States
Political parties established in 1938